A song swap with 2 fine Midwestern songwriters who have shared stages in the past, and on this night they’ll swap songs & stories. Full bios follow ticket link:

DAVE RAMONT was born with a song stuck in his head. The doctors couldn’t get it out. 20-odd years later he was playing around the Chicago area, teaching at a music school and digging ditches.

He released 4 solo records and 4 more with his swillbilly band Dick Smith, garnering play on public & college radio here & abroad. His gigging expanded around the Midwest, South & East.

Ramont has produced a few records for other singer/songwriters, and he’s currently singing for rye whisky & sandwiches. And picking through his box o’ songs hidden under the basement stairs…

“Differentiating oneself in the burgeoning field of alternative-country artists is a tricky proposition these days, but Dave Ramont stands tall in the crowd. On Scrawny, his third CD, the Chicago-based singer-songwriter imbues his acoustic-based compositions with a rustic charm that’s unfettered and right to the point. Employing a variety of roots-oriented instrumentation that includes banjo, mandolin, and accordion, Ramont constructs minimalist arrangements that frame his sturdy melodies in softly lit settings. ” -Russell Hall-Performing Songwriter Magazine

EDWARD DAVID ANDERSON is an American songwriter and rock & roll veteran who spent his formative years fronting the revered Midwest band, Backyard Tire Fire. Known for infectious melodies and memorable messages he penned 8 albums for the band and played countless shows across the US and Canada. Since their hiatus in 2011 EDA has continued to write and tour as a solo artist.

“Chasing Butterflies is a stunning collection of modern Americana. Poetic and fresh with a deceptively laconic quality making it all the more momentous. I don’t use the word often: brilliant.”— Donald Teplyske, Fervor Coulee

His delivery in the live setting is both dynamic and impactful showcasing a natural prowess on banjo, acoustic/cigar box guitars and foot percussion. He defines his sound as Black Dirt Music. “Songs about people and places, about life and love and loss. It’s roots music, cultivated in the fertile soil of the Midwest.” His 2014 debut, Lies & Wishes (produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos) was lauded “a superb solo effort” by No Depression while David Dye (NPR World Cafe) praised his follow up Lower Alabama: The Loxley Sessions (2015) as “a wonderfully soulful record.”

With his recently released Chasing Butterflies (10/19/18- Black Dirt Records), EDA made the album that’s been on his mind for some time now. “I’ve always wanted to make a record in Muscle Shoals. But it needed to be the right batch of songs with the right people,” he recalls. Securing Jimmy Nutt as producer and enlisting local musicians yielded “a stunning collection of modern Americana” (Donald Teplyske of Fervor Coulee). From the hopeful opening lyric, “It’s a beautiful thing/when two people sing/in harmony,” to the haunting title track’s “There’s a restlessness I guess/I’m uneasy I confess,” EDA takes you on a vast & colorful musical journey. You get the feeling he’s lived these songs. That the sleepless nights, the long drives, and the never ending search fuel the fire that keeps Edward David Anderson out there Chasing Butterflies.